Policy aware unified file system

Abstract

A system and method for operating a policy aware unification file system within a computer system that takes into account the security requirements of each file system as each file system is unified into the unified file system. As the application is compatible with existing run time policies of files and directories within each file system that is to be unified, the application supports the enforcement of security policies or requirements of each file and / or directory that has been unified into the unified file system.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT / SG2016 / 050147, filed on Mar. 28, 2016, which claims priority to Singapore Patent Application No. 10201505822U, filed on Jul. 27, 2015. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.FIELD OF THE APPLICATION[0002]The application relates to a system and method for operating a policy aware unified file system within a computer system.BACKGROUND[0003]Presently, computer systems utilize file systems to manage files that are stored within storage devices such as hard disk drives, solid state disks, memory cards, etc. Most file systems (which we also call branches) organize the directories contained within a hierarchical structure or a tree format. For example, the most basic directory within such a branch would be the root directory, which would in turn have a plurality of sub-directories. Each of these sub-directo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]The above and other problems are solved and an advance in the art is made by systems and methods provided by embodiments in accordance with the application. A first advantage of embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the application is that the resulting unified file system supports security policies of each branch that has been unified thereby improving the overall security of the unified file system.

[0013]A third advantage of embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the application is that the unified file system is able to support both branch policies and unification action policies.

Problems solved by technology

As such, it can be said that existing unification file system services are not wholly compatible with the security requirements associated with the various file systems.

This may result in the unexpected granting of access to sensitive documents within the unified file system or the sudden disappearance of files from the unified file system.

Further, existing unification file system services tend to implicitly unify files and / or directories from various file systems without providing information about the file system from which the file and / or directories originated from.

This can produce an inconsistent file system view to software applications and as a result, makes the unified file system incompatible with security policies that require fine-grained access control over files in the unified file system.

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